Hope S. Rugo, M.D., is division chief of breast medical oncology and a professor of medical oncology and therapeutics research at City of Hope®. She also serves as director of the Women’s Cancers Program for City of Hope’s national network of cancer centers.
A world-renowned expert in breast cancer and clinical trial design and execution, Dr. Rugo oversees all women’s cancer research initiatives and clinical care at City of Hope. She is focused on expanding clinical trials, advancing translational research, and standardizing care to improve patient outcomes. She is deeply committed to improving access to innovative new therapies for breast cancer patients everywhere and takes a compassionate, collaborative approach in her work.
Dr. Rugo has been directly involved in numerous projects that have established new standards of care for breast cancer. She has served on the steering committees of multiple clinical trials that led to the approval of agents such as PARP inhibitors, CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors, checkpoint inhibitors, and antibody-drug conjugates, among others. Additionally, Dr. Rugo has led several studies aimed at minimizing therapy-related toxicity, contributing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of scalp cooling caps to prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss and a steroid mouthwash to alleviate stomatitis caused by targeted therapies. She also served as co-chair of the Triple Negative Working Group of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium, where she spearheaded groundbreaking multicenter clinical trials in collaboration with researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical providers.

As a physician-scholar with more than 500 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Rugo served on the editorial board of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Education Committee, which included co-chairing the creation of new guidelines for the hormonal treatment of metastatic breast cancer. She is an Associated editor for the ASCO meeting annual educational manuscripts, committed to educating patients and medical provider on the latest in breast cancer treatment. Dr. Rugo has presented on her work at conferences around the world. Along the way, she's been recognized with numerous awards, including the Bank of America Gianini Foundation Award and the European Society for Medical Oncology's 2024 Breast Cancer Award.